Becks to PSG

This man has quite the influence in the footballing world. David Beckham. Household name. He's finally decided on his next locker room, and he picked a doozy in Paris St. Germain's (PSG). And I know I predicted he'd hop on with Celtic...

Mark my words... Beckham will hop on board with #Celtic for his next gotta-stay-relevant stint.
— MannyG (@mannygoossen) November 20, 2012

But I swear PSG was second on my list, because of their extravagant signings from past summer... I swear they were! With the likes of Ibrahimovic, Thiago Silva, Pastore, Menez, Thiago Motta, Van Der Wiel, and Nene, you can't go wrong (I guess we'll find out soon as the knockout stages of the Champions League are coming up).

It also helps that PSG are on pace to snag the Ligue 1 trophy, which means another league title on Becks' resume.
He knows how to win, on and off the field! What a guy.

2011 Providence Athletics

Again... I'm talkin' about Cam, and again... he's the man.

This time it's about the 2011 Providence Athletics video he filmed and edited, which presents a stunning visual of the college's program (if I do say so myself)!

I luckily had the privilege of playing soccer at Prov for a second season. Again, it was such a blast the second time 'round, and I'm so glad that everything worked out with my courses and such this past fall term. I will hold on to that unreal experience for the rest of my life; the team that surrounded me for those two seasons were like family (and still are). Sadly, due to my degree and limited course selection, I cannot return for future seasons. But I am sure grateful to have two wonderful times there! Cheers.

Here's a quote from Cam (on his blog): "I dare you to watch this and not want to come play at Prov. haha" I totally agree with this statement, bud!
Thanks for this Cam, well done.

See if you can catch my lanky appearances throughout the video.

Enjoy...

2011 Providence Athletics from Nice! Productions on Vimeo.

www.providencecollege.ca

Music By:

Kanye West - All of the Lights
The Black Keys - Everlasting Light
The Roots ft. John Legend - The Fire

Photos by:
Brenda Peters

MLS in Casa Grande?!

I attended a MLS exhibition game down in Arizona last month and I've finally edited this vlog to go along with it.

After my friends' wedding I had a whole day to kill down there until my flight home and luckily Caitlin mentioned that this game was happenin' down in Casa Grande! I was ecstatic and agreed right away. This FREE game featured one of the new expansion teams in the Portland Timbers versus a league vet in the Kansas City Sporting. Since I went with an Oregon citizen (Caitlin), I opted to cheer for the Timbers. Although they DID just lose to my Toronto FC yesterday... what UP! Sorry Caitlin, but aside from that, thanks for gettin' me to finish this and also lettin' me come with you to the game!

Here is an account of our time there, enjoy:
(Boom, my first vlog with my iPhone, hopefully it turns out alright for ya).

MLS in Casa Grande?! from MannyG on Vimeo.

p.s. Now back to the second half of Kentucky vs. UNC!! This tournament has been UNREAL! Gotta love the Madness of March.

Spurs Love

Alright, so you may remember a certain twitpic I conjured up a few weeks ago. It displayed me spreading my wings just like the hero (and one of my heroes), Peter Crouch, after he scored the winner for Tottenham Hotspur against AC Milan in the UEFA Champions League! That picture won me a £100 bet courtesy sportingbet.com and their fan contest. Sportingbet tweeted out for Spurs fans to post a picture of themselves celebrating the game, giving a free bet for their favourite... and they chose mine as the victor. Unbelievable. I never win anything... not even Roll-Up-the-Rim-to-flippin'-WIN.

Three weeks later (as in today), if you check out Tottenham's Official website, you may see a familiar face. Take a look at THIS:

http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/news/articles/win-100-bet-with-sportingbet-080311.html

UNREAL. I think that's preeeetty cool. I've made it (well, sort of)! What can I say? I love football [soccer] and I love Crouch, and not just because of our "striking resemblance"! I apply his technique to my game as well. Also, any Lank Tank is a friend of mine.

They're again holding the contest for Spurs' 2nd leg of their final 16 bout tomorrow. I've set the bar, so tomorrow we'll see what others can align!

Here's the winning picture!

A simple photo shot from my phone with a (literal) twist of humour!
(... and the help of my PVR of course...)

Just before the 1st leg, I looked at the contest and thought about entering but I sort of shrugged it off at first sight. After watching the game, Sportingbet's contest came back to mind, an idea popped up, and now I'm on THFC's official website. Just like that. Nice rice.

Thanks twitter. I think you're very useful.

What can you take away from this?

Life Lesson: You'll never know unless you try.

p.s. Sportingbet's customer service is exquisite.
p.p.s. Now the only question is, what to bet on? I think I have a winning strategy...
p.s. of the p.p.s. Of course they would spell my surname wrong in the article, but that's the last thing I care about right now!!!

The Ups and Downs of Penalty Kicks

Well, I'm trying to get CCSN to post our semi-final game against Clearwater, but in the meantime here is our first round game against Philly!



It was such an exciting game, and probably the second most nerve-racking/crazy game that I've ever been a part of (first, being the one against Clearwater; which was the NEXT DAY)! Unreal stuff! We conceded an early goal and a penalty kick before we decided to charge back and make things interesting. With two quick goals and then a sweet third to go ahead, it looked like we had the game wrapped up. But with Philadelphia comes a certain English man named Gary Bruce, and he pounced on a deep through ball, slotting it home to tie the game! Through double overtime none of us could seem to grasp that golden, elusive goal! PK's were needed; scary times were upon us indeed! If you want to see the PK action, watch from the 2 hour 25 minute mark up above. 'Twas an amazing experience. Seeing Kaiten place home the winner gave me the CHILLS. What a good feeling, especially because we got Papa John's pizza afterwards... icing... on the... CAKE.

Ah, it looks like CCSN listened to my proposal and posted our semi-final thriller! Watch the drama of penalties again in this video. Sadly, we experienced the heart/gut wrenching feeling of a PK loss this time 'round:



This was an UNREAL game. Even though it was 0-0 at the end of double overtime, I'd say it was more exciting than our 4-3 PK victory over Philly! This was our best defensive outing of ALL season, and we almost came out on top because of it. I hate how such a spectacular game had to be decided on point-blank kicking and guessing. We were SO CLOSE to the final!

If we would have won in the semis, we would have eluded the Florida mid day heat and played all three games during the evening! Instead, we played the third place game at 12:30pm in the blistering sun and our energy was completely drained (if not from playing 110 mins in each of the previous two games)! Ridiculous. Anyways, we lost 3-0. A truly disappointing showing on our part, but that's just the way it goes sometimes! I seriously think that we would have won the whole thing if the penalties favoured us instead of Clearwater! In the final, Ohio didn't give them the challenge and scare like we did... we were SO CLOSE.

Alright, so that's my summary of our games and the tournament. I'll talk about and post some short clips of our "vacation" time from throughout the trip too! Stay tuned.

Game Time

If you don't know already, I'm down in Florida with our Prov soccer team competing for a NCCAA National Championship! We've been down here since Sunday, but the tournament starts tomorrow. It's gonna be a fun set of games. We play Philadelphia Biblical University first and apparently they're a decent match-up for us. Can't wait, I'm fired up to finally play! Here is the prediction from the sports site which covers the tournament:

"Outcome: There has been some classic PROV vs. PBU matches in the past, I expect nothing less. Is Gary Bruce (PBU) healthy? Is Prov's defense up to the task? These are the questions that enter my mind when trying to decide the outcome of this 4, 5 match. In the end, I'm going with the Wizard. Martin Ward has been here before and I expect them to thrive in a lower key role that is the #4 seed. Gary Bruce could cause them match up problems, but one man won't be enough. PROV 3-1 PBU." - CCSN

We'll see tomorrow! We're up for the task, Gary & PBU... Look OUT. Watch at ccsnonline.com to see our games with live video and commentary! Look for the tab CCSN LIVE and click Soccer National Tournament. Our first game is at 7:45pm EASTERN STANDARD TIME Wednesday evening!! CHECK IT OUT! ... that is if you're interested. No hard feelings if you don't... Maybe.

Life Lesson: "You don't say good luck, you say DON'T GIVE UP!" - The Roots

LET'S DO THIS.

Florida Bound

I'm heading to Florida with Providence Soccer in a WEEK! Getting another shot at a NCCAA National Championship and I can't wait! We beat Faith Baptist Bible College 8-1 yesterday in our Regional Final, and totally came out wanting to win BIG. Two goals in the first four minutes helped a lot with this score. I almost scored, which would have resulted in the Stationary Speedskater... but it wasn't meant to be.

I'm actually listening to the live seeding show right now and we acquired the fourth seed for the tournament. Our first game is going to be against Philadelphia Bible College (#5). If we win that game we'll probably play Clearwater Christian College (#1), who won last year, so that'll be tough (but anybody can beat ANYBODY, right?!). Apparently we're going to be seen as the dark horse this year and that's perfect. Last year we went in as the first seed and I'm not a fan of being considered the favourite. It's better to be the underdog; less expectation and less pressure. People seem to be curious as to who's really injured on our team and how good we actually are also... excellent. If we're a mystery, we possess the advantage of being unknown and may be feared because of that. I'm excited for this tournament.
There will be live radio commentary streaming on our games at ccsnonline.com! I'll mention this again soon.

I just want to get to the final... no matter what it takes. It's a win-win situation though; if we get to and win our semi-final, we have a chance for our first NCCAA National title ever. And if we lose in that semi-final it means we get a pick-me-up mini vacation to Disney World... so those are two pretty decent outcomes!

Anyways, I just want to head down there now and get away from this chilly Winnipeg weather. This week better go by fast.

p.s. I don't really care for Halloween at all.

The Stationary Speedskater

Well, I'm in Moberly, Missouri... Yeaaah, there's not much else to say about that.

Jokes!

I am here for Prov soccer and we play Central Christian College of the Bible (odd name if you ask me) tomorrow, and Saturday we play Atlanta Christian College. If you're still wondering, we play in the NCCAA Div. II in the States. Fun times. If we win our region, we get to go to nationals in Florida. Yeyeah! Last year was so much fun. Though this trip isn't our regional final game we just want to play some other teams from different regions. It's not the best though when you have to drive 16 hours straight to get there! Especially on a 21-seater handi-bus (that's where a work-out mat for sleeping on the floor comes in).

Anyways, I should really be getting to bed rather than straining my thumbs on this touch keyboard. As John Legend and The Roots would say, "You don't say good luck, you say don't give up!"

Can't wait to show these Americans how it's DONE! If I somehow score this weekend (we've been practicing surprise/sneaky free kicks), my celebration will include the stationary speedskater. You have to see it to believe it.

CIAO... for now.

A TOON Town Wedding (part two)

After three and a half weeks of high anticipation!! ...I'm just kidding. It did take me a while to mash this up, but now it's DONE! When you notice that the video is 11:22 mins long, don't let that frighten you. Make some popcorn and get comfortable, maybe grab some company and enjoy! Without further adieu...

A TOON Town Wedding (part two) from MannyG on Vimeo.

Music:

Taio Cruz - Dynamite

The Middle East - Blood

Usher - OMG

Hey Summer, Where'd Ya Go?!

Where has this summer gone to? MAN! It is now time for another school year to consume me. Ah yes, I'm kind of glad it has finally come though! I find that I have more time throughout the school year than I do in the summer to just hang out and relax. I don't know why I always think it's the other way around. Maybe it's the weather.

Anyhow, my fall is actually going to be full of soccer trips, practices, and weekend games. We have finished Prov soccer training camp and I'm excited to be in good form, but the fatigue from this change of routine has now caught up with me! Today we ran our 5km run; my time was 19mins 04 secs which is not bad for having no preparation and is a much better time than my first run last year. We also ran multiple distance sprints which included 8 sets of 20 yards, 6 of 40, 4 of 60, and 2 of 80. Yep, my legs are exhausted. It'll feel good though when I'm not sucking wind in a game! And our first game is this Friday at 3pm against NCCAA division rival: North Central University from Minneapolis. Can't wait. Come out to Prov if you can!

Oh, and my family is back from CHINA! Their Monday lasted 37 hours! Talk about exhaustion. I'm pumped to have them back, our house has been empty for the last three weeks. My brother was famous out there, everyone wanted their picture with him and asked for his autograph when my family visited a Beijing high school and the Great Wall! I guess being tall, blond, and blue eyed automatically makes you a rarity in those parts. Welcome home, Hollywood.

~~~

Here's a life lesson from Ol' Uncle Ray that I never released...

Life Lesson: Sometimes it's not the years... it's the mileage.

I'm not sure if this applies to anything I've just said, but I'm definitely feeling the meaning of these words right now.

p.s. My school schedule is lookin' decent. No morning classes! Maybe I'll designate most of that time as blogging time... to get long overdue projects DONE.

Ciao for now!

Conaw

First of all, I am back from my weekend long canoe trip, alive and well! It was a blast; hopefully I'll tell you more about it on here soon. I took a couple vids of our rock obstacle voyage getting to the launch point and put them up on my Twitter. So if you don't read or care about my tweets, you're missin' out on really, really interesting stuff (they are to me at least...)! Okay, if you don't want the hassle of leaving my blog, I'll just post the vids later when I talk more about the canoe trip, alright?! Geezaloo (as Glen would say)!

Secondly, BIG NEWS! I am officially registered at Prov for one more term! Muahahaha, I cannot wait to play soccer again with the boys! Gonna be GOOD. Also, we're gonna be lookin' sleek this season because of these two words: New Kits! Yep, I told you we're gonna look good; you didn't believe me, but now you know (Brule's Rules... best compilation video EVER)! Anyways, training camp is this weekend and I sure hope I can keep up with the lads who have been training all summer... Meh, I'll get into tip top shape sooner or later!

Thirdly and finally (getting to the title of this post...), Conan O'Brien has announced the name of his new show! It's going to air on TBS (which I don't think anyone has anymore... but whatevs, I'll watch it online) November 8th and I can't wait! I love this tweet of his: "I announced the name of my show today right here: http://bit.ly/cc3jhU (Spoiler alert: The words "Tonight" and "Show" aren't in it.)" Here is the announcement:



p.s. I'm editing part 2 of A Toon Town Wedding... hopefully I can get it up tomorrow before I head out to Prov for training camp!

World Cup Reflections: Deflated Dutch in the Neverlands

...

Yeaaaaaah... I'm pretty much speechless. Obviously I'm devastated right now! I poured all of my emotions into that game! I could rant and rant about it but you've probably heard SO much analysis already. So I will not BORE you on what I think, except for this:

ROBBEN SHOULD HAVE SCORED ON HIS FIRST BREAKAWAY, AND PUYOL SHOULD HAVE BEEN SENT OFF ON ROBBEN'S SECOND ONE! CASILLAS HAD THE LUCKIEST SAVE OF HIS LIFE, AND I WISH THAT ROBBEN KICKED THE BALL WITH AN INCREASED HEIGHT OF TWO INCHES.

There... I said it. That feels better! Spain got lucky yesterday, even though they are the best in the world at possessing the ball. The Dutch had to play physical in order to get the ball and mess up Spain's flow! Did you see de Jong's flying kick to Alonso's chest???! As if he didn't get sent off! Bah, okay, I just said that I wasn't going to analyze the game... I failed. I guess both sides had many opportunities which they should have capitilzed on, and Spain did when it counted! Though, what if van der Vaart didn't fall down on the initial played in ball??? What if...

Anyways, I went to 4Play Sports Bar downtown for the game and it was PACKED! So much fun (until Spain scored)! There were about 8 of us who were decked out in Dutch colours and kits; we were cheering as hard as we could. Probably the loudest in the massive place (at least the most passionate). We defs got people riled up! Good times.

This tournament was quite entertaining overall. I haven't had a favourite team in a championship final EVER in my life time, so just the experience was incredible! Can't wait for Brasil in 2014, hopefully the Dutch can pull it off there or at least within the decade; it'll happen, just hopefully in my life time! I hate waiting the whole 4 years. At least there's the Euro Cup in 2 years!

Alright, back to regular programming for Manuel's Life Lessons!

p.s. Is there any point in watching t.v. for the rest of the summer? Probs not.

World Cup Reflections: Dutch Delight!

Netherlands have made the WORLD CUP FINAL! Oh boy, I'm getting nervous just thinking about it. What a game yesterday! I still haven't gotten over Giovanni van Bronckhorst's unbelievable goal! It sailed in from 30 yards!!!!!

Germany and Spain finished today... I can't believe Germany went against what was going for them the whole tournament! The sat back and let those Spaniards control the game with possession. At least there will be a new champion! Hopefully Robben runs circles around the Spanish, especially that Puyol with his annoying curly, dangling, mopey, moppy, floppy hair!

Spain has never reached a World Cup final, and the Dutch have been there twice. I hope the experience of being there propels Holland to a decisive victory!

Get ready for July 11th, Spain vs. Netherlands is gonna be a GOOD GAME!
Contact me if you want to experience the game with a Dutchie!

p.s. Sung Knows crew and I shot some Prov Sports Camps vids yesterday... "HILARIOUS" was a text I got from Cam, so get ready for some funny footage. I'm pumped!

A Royal Occasion

Wow, I'm really kinda glad that I stayed in town for the weekend! I was able to celebrate Canada Day, enjoy the World Cup, see the Queen, and dance at a sweet concert!

Let me start off by saying how excited I am for the semi-finals of the World Cup! I wouldn't have been able to watch the games live this weekend, but things didn't work out with my travels and now I'm so happy that I did lay back and enjoy "THE soccer" (Roger's commercial joke). The Netherlands, Uruguay, Germany, and Spain have all survived those INTENSE quarter-final matches. Unreal football from all participating countries. You gotta feel for Ghana, they had a penalty kick in the last seconds of extra time to move on and Gyan nailed the crossbar! Then they went on to lose on the game-deciding penalty kicks... CRAZY. At least Suarez with that straight red card (because he swatted the ball off the line) will be out against the Dutch, muahahah! Looks like it'll be a Germany versus Netherlands battle on July 11th (hopefully)! That would be a match you CANNOT miss.

Anyways, that was a long intro to this entry... A part from this weekend's football, it was truly a Royal occasion. Saturday, the Queen came to Winnipeg! Lindsey and I decided to follow our stalker instincts and went looking for her. Lindsey's first thought was that she'd be at the legislature... excellent first guess! We headed to the large mass of people and sure enough, the Queen was walking out of the Government house and I finally checked this feat off of my bucket list! Okay, it wasn't officially on my bucket list, but I am grateful that I have finally seen her in person. After that spectacle, Lindsey and I went for a tour in the Legislative building. It's amazing in there. I've only been in it a couple of times, but I'm amazed each and every time! There's an area with a black star on the ground and if you stand on it and speak, your voice transforms into a 360 stereo vocal experience. The architecture is unreal. Good times.

Finally, I actually did go to Royal Canoe's CD release party last night! SO GOOD! Their new tunes are spectacular, I can't wait to acquire them. Cam filmed some of their new stuff, stay tuned! They were great, but who opened for them was a pleasant surprise. Library Voices recently had an iTunes single of the week and I knew them from that, but they are quite the band as their performance and CD proves. All eight of them give their sound a unique touch! Kind of reminds me of the Arkells a bit, except these guys include those electronic Korg's and Moog's. I love it! The Sung Knows crew and I danced that night away!

Check out this stellar music video from Library Voices (this song was the iTunes single of the week):

Library Voices - Drinking Games (music video) from Young Soul on Vimeo.

World Cup Reflections: NEDERLAND PREVAILS!

OH MY WORD! My dream has come true. The Netherlands beat Brazil today in the World Cup quarter finals! Today marks a milestone in Dutch football! Don't you just love when you predict that your team will win and they do, even though they weren't the favourite and were expected to lose?! It just feels SO GOOD! They have the team to go all the way this year, I've said it all along. It'll be an exciting final two games, that's for sure!

When Brazil scored in the first ten minutes, I was devastated; although, these were my words: "NO! ... Ahhh, but at least there's A LOT of time left."
That amount of time was all Holland needed to gather up a come back victory. They kept positive and one of the major factors was Robben causing Michel Bastos (Brazil's left back) a whole lot of trouble and ultimately, Bastos had to be substituted because of his earlier yellow card. Robben held the ball perfectly, winning tonnes of free kicks for much needed field position (he did embellish a lot, but hey, any player in that position would). Sneijder was key as well, causing the equalizer and also heading in the winner! It's so exciting to see my Oranje play at their full, peaked potential (though they could close games better... the final twenty minutes = stress)! LOVE IT!

Man it must suck to be Felipe Melo; the tying goal went off his head and he committed that stupid stomp on Robben's hamstring to get sent off with a straight red! Brazil keep your COOL! Did you see Robinho go animal on Robben and others!? So intense.

In honour of this famous upset victory, it is now the perfect time to reveal my new main display picture I've been waiting to premier... Enjoy.

Calling ALL CAPTAINS! (Get it?)

Hmmm I might just change it back to the previous one... this one doesn't shrink to fit well, and it's MASSIVE otherwise! Meh, I'll leave it for now.

Oh and just so you know, I'm gonna be wearing my dutch kit ALL weekend, that's how pumped I am.

p.s. Another Dutch flag bearer parked beside me at Long & McQuade the other day. I smiled.

World Cup Reflections: Hup Holland Hup!

The flying Dutchmen are in formidable form. They are playing patiently and are seamlessly passing the ball around their opposition. In today's case they were up against Slovakia who took down the last champion, Italy (which was quite the shock). Slovakia are a solid side, and definitely had the chances to overtake the Dutch today. However, that was not the case thankfully, and Holland cruised to a 2-1 victory! Robben is the difference maker for the Dutch, FOR SURE! He started his first game today and it paid off. He scored the opening goal and made it look too easy. He can take any situation and turn it into gold. He amazingly cuts into the centre of the field with his almighty left foot so effectively! LOVE IT!

I have only seen a few Netherlands flags around and I am in fact one of those fanatics who have a flag on their vehicle. I was driving to my indoor soccer game last week when I noticed in the corner of my eye that the driver in the truck beside me was motioning for me to roll down my window. At first I was skeptical but then did as requested. Here is what immediately followed:

"IF YOU AIN'T DUTCH, YOU AIN'T MUCH!"

He had both his hands around his mouth shouting out of his window with his full attention on me. Now that's what I call reckless beauty. He then proceeded to gesticulate the "Shaka" symbol (Yes, I did Wiki it) and continued to do so all the way down the street! We were both loving it. I then answered with a yeah-that's-right point and a couple of proud fist pumps. He answered with a clasp of the hands and the "championship shake" out of his window! Wow, doesn't the World Cup bring out friendship in strangers!? UNREAL!

Next up is BRASIL! BRING IT!

World Cup Reflections: To England's Horror!

WOW, England has suffered a major blow today. I really feel for the team because they were literally robbed from a momentous swing in their Round of 16 game with Deutschland! Frank Lampard had a beautiful, finessed, volleyed chip from outside the box that hit the crossbar and landed a foot inside the line! The linesman was in no position to see it and unfortunately, same with the field referee. NO GOAL! Lampard could NOT believe it and he looked like he had seen a ghost! Actually, every England supported looked like they had because everyone knew it should have been a goal. It would have been tied 2-2 going into the half and a new game would have emerged in the second. UNREAL! AGAIN, FIFA, WAKE UP! This is preposterous. Get with the times and introduce video replay to get these calls RIGHT! SO FRUSTRATING! To get things started: Get rid of Joseph Blatter, the FIFA president... it's time for a much needed change.

Back in 1966, England beat West Germany for the World Cup title. England scored to win in the 11th minute of extra time causing today's same controversy, except flipped. The linesman gave them the benefit of the doubt and signaled the shot as a goal even though (the replay shows that) it never completely crossed the line! Now this has come back to haunt them in the present! Let's hope we see change soon with this football injustice, video replay is essential.

UNREAL, how did they not see and ultimately count this goal! See for yourself:



Check out this '66 final's footage of the goal that was gifted to Geoff Hurst of England that presented the nation with their only World Cup title:



Oh, and Argentina's first goal was offside too today... ridiculous.

Hopefully the Dutch can just plow through Slovakia and not have to worry about controversial refereeing.

World Cup Reflections: Pringoooals!

Wow, Peter Crouch who is my favourite player is just SO COOL! I'm being kind of sarcastic, but I think it's awesome that he's in a Pringles commercial. He of course displays his renowned robot celebration dance in this ad (he performed it for Prince William during training at the last World Cup) Check this out!

PRICELESS

p.s. He should be starting for England... I hope he does tomorrow!

World Cup Reflections: Disgrace to the Game

Kaka should not be BANNED! This is disgusting. For those of you who didn't watch the Brazil vs. Ivory Coast game, one of the Ivorian players came running into Kaka (one of Brazil's superstars and one of the world's most respectful players) late in the game. Kaka put his arm up to protect himself from a collision, but the Ivorian (Keita) ran straight into it and went down in a heap of pain while clutching his face! DISGUSTING! The referee ultimately gave Kaka a second yellow card and as a result he was sent off and will miss the next match. Kaka is a SAINT, he would never elbow a player in the face! The refs were cheated, conned and tricked in this football debacle! I've said this time and time again... VIDEO REPLAY IS ESSENTIAL! This sport will never get the respect it deserves because of dirty players like Keita who act falsely and idiotically on the pitch! This is disgusting. When will FIFA take their heads out of their asses? I'm sorry if that phrase offends you, but I believe it describes the situation perfectly. When will they realize that video implications are necessary for a fair game and are NEEDED to get certain calls RIGHT! I'm serious; I'm sickened with the bad reputation soccer receives because of the stupidity from unsportsmanlike professionals. This is a disgrace to the game.

Here is an article that sums it up nicely: Kaka Shouldn't Be Banned

World Cup Reflections: Inspired

Okay... I've played one soccer game since the World Cup and I had a feeling I would play with an inspirational fire because of it. However, approximately 15 mins into the game I tweaked my left ankle on an attempted cross... It didn't stop me. It did restrict my ability to run but since we had no substitutes, I was forced to continue. I moved myself up to striker because I couldn't run 100%, and at least I could maybe hold up the game and control it from the front.

It came to half time, we were tied 1-1 and I was still hobbling on my ankle. DANG! I hate being a gimp. I ran over to the stands at the beginning of the second half and told my "fan base" what had happened (my parents, grandma, and Danielle came out to watch). About 5 mins after that I knew that the defender (also last man back) would mishandle a cross and I pounced on the mistake. I had a mini breakaway, I took one control touch and then finessed it by the charging keeper! Just like FIFA 10, the finesse button works every time! I couldn't believe that I scored despite being injured. It was a great feeling. About 10 mins after that, I had another chance but ended up rolling my bad ankle and screwing it up more... BAH! So I ended up getting the GWG, but now I'm recovering from my injury and therefore have missed two indoor games, which is very frustrating.

I think since Danielle (D) came out and took the time to watch me play soccer, it's about time she get a SHOUT OUT! I know she's been waiting for this for a LONG time, so there ya go! Thanks for coming out and seeing me in my glory. A week before then, we went and saw a Manitoba Premier match. It was very sloppy but we had fun commenting on the game anyway. We decided we are going to start an alternate viewing channel of soccer games for those who want a comical commentary. Basically we just made jokes about the two team's horrible play and the players' bad decisions and of course their outer image. We were on fire with our remarks!

Anyways... back to my reflections of the World Cup.

FRANCE IS BRUTAL! Henry looked like he was depressed on the side lines during their game against Mexico. I know it's winter there, but he looked like he was suffering from the flu, it was that bad. Either that or he despises his coach (who doesn't?). France just played like selfish individuals and never really built up any team play. Just brutal. I was wrong about Mexico too, they've really shown themselves as a team because of their sheer perseverance. The fact that they take advantage of their opportunities, makes them successful; plain and simple. Good on ya Mexico! Both England and Germany have games tomorrow! Should be decent. I have a wedding ceremony during the England game though... too bad I don't have Rogers, I could have streamed the game on my phone! I kid, I kid (or do I?)!

~~~

One more shout out before I head out to TOON town in Saskwatchewan for that wedding I told you about. My bro Josh phoned me when he was driving up in Northern Alberta, he'll be without the Internet until August so his prowess of friendship kicked in and he called me! I didn't know the number, so I didn't answer during work... SHOOT! He left a lovely voicemail though and I really appreciated it. He was singing along and rockin' out to Red River Risin'! Good on YA!

p.s. Let me know if you want the song file of Red River Risin'!! I'll shoot you an email with it attached, NBD.

p.p.s. Stay tuned for another upcoming Vlog! This wedding I'm going to in Saskatoon is also doubling as a Holsby Brunn Bible School reunion!! I'll see what I can muster up...